criminalmindsfandomcom-20200223-history
Danny Rolling
|death place = Florida State Prison, Raiford, Florida |job = Former waiter Drifter |pathology = Serial Killer Spree Killer Serial Rapist Ephebophile Necrophiliac Family Annihilator Bank Robber |signature = Posing victims' bodies in sexually provocative positions |mo = Stabbing |type = Disorganized lust |victims = 9 killed 12 robberies 3 assaulted 1 attempted 1 hostage 1 intended rape 1 raped |time=1976 - 1990 |charges=8 counts of murder 2 count of underage drinking 1 count of drug possession 2 counts of armed robbery 1 count of robbery 3 counts of burglary 1 count of bank robbery |sentence=Death |capture=September 8, 1990 |status = Deceased }} Daniel Harold "Danny" Rolling, a.k.a. "The Gainesville Ripper", was an American ephebophilic and necrophilic serial/spree killer, serial rapist, one-time family annihilator, and one-time bank robber, who terrorized Florida in the 1990s. Background Rolling's parents James and Claudia married when Claudia was nineteen, and she became pregnant with Rolling two weeks later, much to James's disgust. He and the rest of his family were abused by James, who would tell Rolling (who was the subject of most of the abuse) ever since he was born that he was an unwanted child. In one instance, James pinned his son to the ground, handcuffed him, and had his coworkers at the local police department take him away, all because he was embarrassed by him. Rolling's mother Claudia tried several times to leave James, but always returned. In his teenage and young adult years, Rolling committed several robberies in neighboring states, for which he was arrested. He was also caught spying on a cheerleader dressing up. In May 1990, after years of abuse, Rolling attacked his father during a family argument. While hoping to kill him, the attack failed, but James lost an eye and an ear. Murders On the night of August 24, 1990, Danny broke into the apartment of college students Sonja Larson and Christina Powell. There, he found Powell asleep on the couch but did not attack her at first. Instead, he proceeded upstairs and stabbed Larson to death. Afterwards, he returned to Powell and raped her before stabbing her five times in the back. He then posed Powell and Larson's bodies in provocative positions before leaving the apartment. A day later, Rolling broke into the apartment of Christa Hoyt by prying open a sliding glass door with his knife and a screwdriver. Though she was not home, Rolling waited for her in the living room. When Hoyt arrived, Rolling attacked her from behind and subdued her, then raped and stabbed her. His stabs were so violent that her heart ended up being ruptured. Afterwards, he decapitated her body and posed the head so it would face the body. Two days later, Rolling broke into the apartment of Tracy Paules with the exact same method as before. When inside, Rolling found Manny Taboada, who was appointed by Tracy to be a bodyguard due to the string of murders, asleep. He fought with him and eventually killed him. Paules heard the struggle and went to Taboada's bedroom, saw Rolling, and attempted to barricade herself in her room. However, Rolling managed to break inside and raped her before stabbing her three times in the back. Arrest and Execution "There is much I'd like to say, Your Honor, about our world and beliefs. However, I feel whatever I might have to say is overshadowed by the suffering I've caused. I regret with all my heart what my hand has done. I have taken what I cannot return. If only I could bend back the hands of that ageless clock and change the past. Ah, but alas, I am not the keeper of time, only a small part of history and the legacy of man's fall from grace. I'm sorry, Your Honor." During the investigation, police already identified a prime suspect, a mentally ill college student named Edward Humphrey, who attended the University of Florida. Rolling was eventually arrested for burglary and his tools were matched to marks left at the crime scenes. When investigating his camp, which was located near the apartment complexes frequented by the victims, police discovered country songs made by Rolling and audio diaries alluding to the murders. He was then charged in November 1991 and Humphrey was released. After his arrest, Rolling was considered to be the prime suspect in an unsolved triple homicide in Shreveport, which was very similar to the Gainesville murders. In the triple homicide, the Grissom family had been attacked in their home as they were preparing for dinner. One of the victims, Julie Grissom, had her body mutilated, cleaned and posed. Rolling never confessed to the Grissom killings but wrote about the case using information that only the killer would know. Four years later, Rolling was brought to trial and claimed that he only wanted to become a superstar, similar to fellow serial killer and rapist Ted Bundy. Rolling pleaded guilty to all of the charges filed against him and was sentenced to death on each count. He was executed by lethal injection on October 25, 2006, aged 52. Modus Operandi Rolling usually targeted brunette, brown-eyed, petite, female, Caucasian college students. Attacking them in their apartments, he would tape their mouths shut and also tape their wrists, then cut off their clothing, rape them, and have them lie down on the floor face-down, to which he would stab them to death in the back with a U.S. Marine Corps K-Bar knife. Afterwards, he would pose his victims in sexually provocative positions. In the case of Christa Hoyt, he decapitated her and left her severed head in the refrigerator to increase the shock of whoever found her. Rolling was also not hesitant in attacking other victims as well, although these random victims weren't raped and posed as the others were. Known Victims *1989: **November 4, Shreveport, Louisiana: The Grissom family ***William Grissom, 55 ***Julie Grissom, 24 ***Sean Grissom, 8 *1990: **August 24, Gainesville, Florida: Sonja Larson and Christina Powell: ***Sonja Larson, 18 ***Christina Powell, 17 **August 25, Gainesville, Florida: Christa Leigh Hoyt, 18 **August 27, Gainesville, Florida: Manuel Taboada and Tracy Paules: ***Manuel "Manny" R. Taboada, 23 ***Tracy Inez Paules, 23 Robberies *Unspecified date in 1976, Mississippi: An unspecified armed robbery *1979: **May 25, Montgomery, Alabama: A Winn Dixie Supermarket **May 29, Columbus, Georgia: A Winn Dixie Supermarket *Unspecified date in 1980, Alabama: An unspecified robbery *July 22, 1985, Clinton, Mississippi: A Kroger supermarket *December 24, 1989 unspecified location: A home invasion *1990: **June 2, unspecified location: A home invasion **June 12, unspecified location: A Westwood United Superstore **June 30, unspecified location: The above Westwood United Superstore **August: Christopher Osborne **September 1-2, Tampa, Florida: A Tampa Sav-n-Pack *Unspecified date and location in 1992: An unspecified bank robbery Others *Unspecified date in 1977: **Omatha Ann Holka and her unnamed lover : ***Omatha Ann Holka ***Omatha's unnamed lover **Unnamed woman *November 1980, unspecified location: Unnamed girl *1990: **May 18, Shreveport, Louisiana: James Harold Rolling, 59 **September 8, Ocala, Florida: Randy Wilson *Unspecified date in 1991, Hillsborough County, Florida: Unnamed police officer }} On Criminal Minds *Season Six **"The Stranger" - While not directly mentioned or referenced in this episode, Rolling seems to have been an inspiration for the episode's unsub, Greg Phinney - Both were serial rapists and serial/spree killers who targeted female, brunette college students, killing them after breaking into their apartments by stabbing them to death with a knife, and were given nicknames for their crimes. Interestingly enough, Rolling was the inspiration for Ghostface, the fictional killer in [[wikipedia:Scream (franchise)|the Scream franchise]], which was vaguely referenced during the episode. *Season Eleven **"Tribute" - While not directly mentioned, a marker denoting to an infamous serial killer seen on Reid's map of infamous serial killers by location could be seen pointing to Gainesville's approximate location, possibly as a reference to Rolling. Sources *Wikipedia's article about Rolling *Murderpedia's article about Rolling *Radford University's summary of Rolling's life *Clark Prosecutor's article about Rolling *Page 3 of Alligator's history on Rolling *Crimezzz's article bout Rolling *Geni's article on James Rolling Category:Real World Criminals Category:Real People Category:Real Life Killers Category:Real Serial Killers Category:Real Spree Killers Category:Real Necrophiliacs Category:Real Life Rapists Category:Real Bank Robbers Category:Real Ephebophiles Category:Real Family Annihilators Category:Real Life Child Killers Category:Incarcerated Real World Criminals Category:Deceased Real World Criminals Category:Executed Real World Criminals Category:Unreferenced Criminals Category:Real Life Psychopaths Category:Real Mutilators